[QuantumGood]

Treat the answer like a game instead of treating the question like a logic puzzle. Optimizing the answer framing instead of the question framing opens up a lot of possibilities. This also works in personality conflicts affecting communication (like marriage).

[bmacho]

I don't get it. Can you reformulate/elaborate?

[QuantumGood]

Figure out something to say even though you are not yet very clear on the other person's communication. Common approaches: Ask for clarification, mirror what they say. Growing up autistic, I couldn't find a way to maintain/create a positive connection until I started to focus on the emotions, not the data. I then discovered that the emotion seemed to preceede the data for many people, and that if you stayed on the emotional wavelength, sometimes the data I thought I perceived would turn out to be irrelevant. A cliche is men attributing this to women wanting to share feelings, but it parallels another cliche, men wanting to share things that anger them.